


Partners

by PrincessAddieJ



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-08
Updated: 2017-06-08
Packaged: 2018-11-11 10:35:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11146668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessAddieJ/pseuds/PrincessAddieJ
Summary: ** Set at a time where Addie has just turned 16 and learned she will be taking the throne when Jareth eventually steps down****LANGUAGE WARNING**





	Partners

She had to admit, he was good looking.

            _Very_ good looking.

            In fact, the first time Agar introduced himself, the Princess found herself unable to speak, lost as she was in the pools of jade that stared back at her with interest. His hair was cropped, yet shaggy on top, and was so white it was nearly translucent as it fell away from his face. He smiled down at her with a gentle calm, only taller than her by a head or so, and the way his eyes seemed to fall on every part of her all at once had her smiling back at him reflexively.

            But that was hardly the point.

            Newly sixteen, Jareth had finally come to terms with the idea that his eldest daughter had a talent for hand to hand combat. To his dismay, he watched her for years attempt to compete in formal tournaments held at the Capitol, only to discover the truth: No one wanted to fight her. Of course, Addie had told him as much several times before when he forbade her from participating in illegal fighting rings in the city, but the King would not hear it. It was only when he witnessed for himself these boys – and a few girls – Addie’s own age, simply walk from a fight, or take a direct hit and allow it to end the match unnecessarily, that Jareth was finally convinced. For one reason or another, they had no interest in fighting against her.

            “Agar will be your fighting partner,” Jareth said, laying a gloved hand against the boy’s slim shoulder.

            “My . . . My what, now?” The Princess stuttered, getting lost starting again.

            “Your fighting partner, love. He will help to train you and release some of that pent-up anger.”

            “Anger?” The boy parroted, a tone of incredulousness pulling at the word in strange ways. “You don’t look angry to me, Princess.”

            Addie could only laugh, the sound soft and airy, and very unlike her.

            “Trust me, boy, she’s got it buried. But when she fights you it will all come out in the biggest shit storm you’ve ever seen, I assure you.”

            “We’ll see about that,” he countered.

            “Yes, you will, actually. And there’s no time like the present.”

            “Wait what,” Addie pondered aloud, finding herself violently thrown back into reality.

            “The boy doesn’t seem to believe me when I tell him you’re full of fire, my treasure. It’s best that you show him now. Go ahead and put him on his ass for me, Princess.”

            “Dad,” Addie began, her voice breaking in the distraction, “I don’t think right now –”

            “It’s alright, your Highness. We don’t have to do anything right this moment. Performing under pressure isn’t for everyone . . . Even a future ruler . . .”

            As if consumed by the very fire her father was sure rested deep inside her, Addie took a half step forward, hooking both her arms around the boy’s slender frame and simultaneously shoving and lifting until Agar was off the ground more than two feet. Uncaring for the cold stone beneath them, the Princess used every bit of her own weight to drive his body to the floor before landing three solid blows to his midsection. He coughed and sputtered mostly from the shock of such an attack, but also from the considerable pain now radiating through him.

            “By the gods,” he gasped, holding his stomach in an attempt to stifle the pain.

            “I did warn you, boy,” the Goblin King boasted, a cocky smirk highlighting his face.

 

/                       /                       /                       /                       /                       /

 

            The following weeks tested Addie more than she ever thought possible.  Her father had neglected to inform her that Agar would be living with them for the duration of his employment to the crown. And not only that, but the boy was to stay with her like a shadow, even outside of her lessons and training. Jareth commanded Agar to never leave his daughter’s side. It was almost as if he were trying to get the Princess to turn her back on Sam, but the thought itself held no logic; the Goblin King had grown to care for the son of his Champion more than he wanted to admit to anyone, and was glad to see that the boy made Addie so happy. He was good, truly so.

            So why go through so much to push him away?

            Addie found herself thinking again on the topic for what felt like the millionth time, when Agar unceremoniously swept her legs out from under her with a sure foot, and she fell hard against the plush mat lining the floor of her training room. Jareth had insisted on this for the safety of both of them, also noting that “blood is so difficult to remove from the stone once it’s stained, treasure.” She made a mental note to thank him later for it.

            “Your mind is elsewhere,” Agar said in a voice just above a whisper. It was only then that Addie realized his entire body was on top of her. Of course, this was not the first time they had experienced such a position, but it wasn’t until now the Princess noted with quiet astonishment how every section of his exposed skin brushed against hers and sent electric shocks across her body.

            “Shut up,” she growled, pushing him off in the next moment.

            “I’m not wrong, am I?”

            “Does my father pay you to talk or to try to best me?”

            “Try?” He laughed. “I think I just _did_ best you, Princess.”

            “Only because I wasn’t paying atten- . . . . You asshole.”

            Agar laughed again despite the girl’s bad mood. The sound was like wind chimes having their fun on a warm summer’s day. Addie did her best to ignore the butterflies that rose in her stomach with it.

            “Would you like to tell me what has you so distracted, madam?”  

            The girl slowly picked herself up and returned to fighting stance; one hand extended to a fist, and the other guarding her face. She both loved and hated the fact that Agar always seemed so formal. Part of her wanted to know what he would be like if he wasn’t so uptight and put together. Then again . . . She also wondered what the formal tone would sound like if he whispered certain things in her ear while . . .

            _Thud._

            “OW! FUCK!”

            “Such vulgar language from a beautiful mouth,” he teased, looking down at her once again.

            He was talking about her _mouth_. Gods help her, he was talking about her _mouth_.

            She needed to see Sam, and she needed to see him immediately.

 

/                       /                       /                       /                       /                       /

 

            As it turned out, Sam was on his way to have a word with the King – several words, actually, and none of them were polite for casual conversation. Agar was becoming an infected thorn in his side more and more every day, and it felt as though Jareth was doing nothing to help the situation. Rather, pushing the damn thing in farther and farther every day with the heel of his stupid boots.

            Said boots were currently clicking against the floor of the library as the Goblin King paced with a book in one hand, and a short glass of amber liquid sloshing about the other. Fury the likes of which he had never experienced before burned through Sam like a wildfire. Without a single thought, the boy strode up to Jareth with purpose and knocked the glass from his hand with a heavy-handed swipe.

            “Hello there, S – WHAT THE BLOODY HELL, BOY?!” He roared as the liquid splashed across the floor and the glass shattered to fragments of crystal.

            “Do you even THINK before you do things?! Do you care about anyone besides YOURSELF?! Or have the fumes from all that ridiculous makeup finally gone to your head and made you certifiably INSANE you over-glittered FUZZBALL?!”

            With an elongated breath through his nose, Jareth took measured steps toward Sam, who, for his part, was very suddenly not so angry, but incredibly terrified. The King backed the boy up to the nearest wall without so much as a blink, and got close enough to nearly feel his eyelashes flutter against his cheeks before speaking in a low growl.

            “I can imagine you’re speaking about Adelaide’s new fighting partner. Nod if I am correct.”

            Sam nodded his head so slightly that had Jareth blinked he would have missed it.

            “Good. As for your outburst . . . Yes, I do think before I act, especially when it comes to my children, you spoiled little boy. I understand that this must be difficult for you, and if you care to believe it – _look at my eyes, Sam_ – I had taken you into consideration when I made my choice in Agar. He is set to be her bodyguard, and I trust him to keep her safe. Not only for me, but for you, as well, boy. I want you all to be close because her life will be in his hands when I’m not around so that you will have someone to marry when the time comes.”

            Sam swallowed hard, and Jareth continued in a voice so quiet he was straining to hear even at this distance.

            “Yes, he is quite attractive and I am not so stupid to think that Addie wouldn’t notice, but I thought you would be mature enough to see past it. As a man, however, I understand your hesitance to have someone else that close to her. I will allow you to stake your claim if you choose to do so.”

            “Stake my . . .?”

            “Shut up, boy, I’ve not finished yet. It’s not as if I’m telling you to take her in front of me so get _that_ out of your mind this moment. However, you and Agar may have it out if it would make you feel better, but first . . . I will allow you to apologize for striking me and forgive you for as much. Just. This. Once.”   


End file.
